Mesa Musings:

This time of the year brings with it thoughts of Herb Livsey.

Herb taught English at Costa Mesa High School and Orange Coast College for more than three decades.

The New York native taught countless thousands to write, and he also taught a fair number to shoot baskets, rebound and play defense. He’s forgotten more basketball than you or I — or 50 of our closest friends — will ever know.

Herb, who began shooting hoops in the fourth grade in White Plains, N.Y., has enjoyed a long affiliation with the NBA. Today, at 73, he evaluates players on a part-time basis for the Denver Nuggets. It’s as retired as he’ll probably ever get. He lives in Indio.

Herb ranks as one of the premier skill-development people in all of basketball, and, for 41 years, he was the owner and director of the Snow Valley Basketball School. He was the boys’ varsity basketball coach at Mesa High from 1966 to ’69, and was OCC’s head coach from 1969 to ’76.

At Coast, he had just one winning season in seven; his 1973-74 Pirates were 22-8. But he was never about Ws and Ls. His commitment to students went deeper than that.

During his OCC tenure, the man with the ice-blue eyes was often accused of not recruiting the most talented athletes.

His approach favored less-talented players, who he felt would play hard and fit into his team-oriented scheme. He detested ball hogs and prima donnas, and emphasized the principles of team play.

An intense coach who demanded the best of his players, Herb was a perpetual-motion machine on OCC’s basketball sidelines. A veritable whirling dervish, he was up and down the court, flailing his arms, stomping his feet and screaming. His body English during a 40-minute basketball game was nothing short of chiropractically amazing.

His voice was permanently hoarse. He blew out his lower register with years of screaming in noisy gyms. He rarely, if ever, however, yelled at officials.

Despite his poor wins-to-losses ratio, on numerous occasions I watched Herb completely out-coach the opposition. He got more from his players than almost any coach you could imagine.

“I really don’t place a lot of emphasis on win-loss records,� he said in 1976. “Oh sure, everyone wants to win, myself included. But there are other indications of being successful.�

Like becoming a mature, well-adjusted human being; reaching your potential; and graduating from college.

Sadly, OCC administrators relieved him of his coaching assignment after his 1975-76 team went 10-17. Herb remained an English professor at the college until his retirement in 1997.

In the fall of 1976, he began a two-year leave of absence to serve as an assistant coach at Arizona State University. He then worked five seasons as a UC Irvine assistant.

Coast track and field coach and Assistant Athletic Director John Knox was one of Herb’s OCC students in the early 1980s.

“Herb was a great teacher — one of the best I had in college,� Knox said. “His lectures were always fascinating and motivating. His enthusiasm was infectious, and he took a personal interest in students. He understood athletes.�

Herb agreed to be an OCC assistant basketball coach in 1988, and continued for nine seasons. He’d mellowed considerably.

He loved coaching players and, as an assistant, seemed to appreciate being out of the limelight.

He didn’t have to worry about newspaper criticism, administrator interference, fan backlash, or squabbles with parents or players about playing time. Those headaches belonged to the head coach.

As an assistant, Herb was able to concentrate on the things he loved most: teaching in practice, and coaching from the bench.

In 1990, the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches presented him with a merit award for 30-plus years of coaching. Herb was twice named “Coach of the Year� at the high school level and once at Coast. In 1998, he was inducted into the California Community College Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.

He’s worked as a scout and assistant for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets.

So, what about his OCC winning percentage?

“Fuhgeddaboudit!� — as they say in the neighborhood where he grew up.

In the grand scheme of things, wins and losses are relatively unimportant. Coach Livsey changed lives.

JIM CARNETT lives in Costa Mesa. His column runs Wednesdays.